An inventory of
his papers
at Syracuse University

Papers of the American author, science fiction short story writer and novelist.
Typescript manuscript stories and novels, galley proofs, and Knight's subject files
which include clippings, correspondence, photographs, and printed material about authors,
publishers, organizations, and miscellaneous subjects.

Damon Francis Knight (1922–2002) was an award-winning American science fiction author,
editor, and critic. His first story was published in 1941 in the science fiction
pulp magazine
Amazing Stories; over his career he has written novels, short stories, criticism and other non-fiction,
and edited numerous anthologies. His best-known short story is "To Serve Man," which
was adapted into a
Twilight Zone episode.

Knight was a founding member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America
(SFWA), cofounder of the National Fantasy Fan Federation, cofounder of the Milford
Writer's Workshop, and -- with his wife, author Kate Wilhelm -- cofounder of the Clarion
Writers Workshop. These two highly-regarded writers' workshops have produced a remarkable
number of award-winning writers, including Octavia Butler, Cory Doctorow, Vonda McIntyre,
Kim Stanley Robinson, and Bruce Sterling.

The
Damon Knight Collection consists of general files,
writings, writings by other authors, and miscellaneous. There is also a set of later
additions which has not yet been integrated into the main collection.

General files contains folders on a wide range of individuals,
topics, organizations, and ideas. There is also biographical information
about Knight.

Writings is broken down
into two categories, published material and unpublished material.
Published material is made up of known anthologies, novels, short
stories, and critical essays. The folders include rough drafts,
typescripts, correspondence, reviews, royalty receipts, etc. for
each title. Unpublished material, for the most part, is composed of
short stories. Also to be found in this series are joint
undertakings, unfinished material, an outline, and a project.

Writings by other authors contains translations from the French
of various authors, and writings in English by American and other authors. Authors
include
Rene Barjavel, James Bliss, Ursula K. LeGuin, R. A. Lafferty, Joanna Russ and more.

1980 additions contains later additions that have not been
integrated into the previous accessions -- primarily writings but also some correspondence
and printed material as well as material related to The Futurians, an organization
of which
Knight was a member. Much of the writings relates to the Orbit anthologies (Orbit
12 through
Orbit 17).

General files are arranged alphabetically. Writings is subdivided into published
and unpublished; within that items are arranged alphabetically by type and then
by
title. Writings by other authors is subdivided into two categories: translations
from the French, and English writers. Both sections are arranged
alphabetically according to the author's last name.

Access Restrictions

The majority of our archival and manuscript collections are housed offsite and require
advanced notice for retrieval. Researchers are encouraged to contact us in advance
concerning the collection material they wish to access for their research.

Use Restrictions

Written permission must be obtained from SCRC and
all relevant rights holders before publishing quotations, excerpts or images from
any
materials in this collection.

Special Collections Research Center has a number of collections relating to science
fiction and fantasy
authors and publications, both in the manuscript collections and in our Rare Books
collection. See the the SCRC Subject Index
for a listing of manuscript collections, and refer
to the Classic Catalog
for a listing of cataloged books and publications.